sign in sign up
<<
Home , Argand lamp, Carl Reichenbach, Fuel gas, Gas lighting, Geissler tube, Kerosene lamp

Slide 1 Historic and Modern Utilities

Lighting and Electrical Systems

Slide 2 American Home Utilities • 1800 — With few exceptions, American homes were hardly technologically distinguishable from post-medieval homes – Cooking: open hearth – Heating: fireplaces – Cooling: open the doors and windows – Food storage: (relatively) cold/root cellar – : , oil – Washing/bathing: basins, tubs – Waste: outhouse during the day, chamber pot (stored under the bed) at night

Slide 3 American Home Utilities, cont.

• 1900 — Most homes contained modern conveniences unrecognizable to an 1800 homeowner – Cooking: kitchen range (electric or gas) – Heating: steam/hot water, or central forced air – Cooling: electric fans – Food storage: ice box – Lighting: electric or gas – Washing/bathing/waste: bathtubs, sinks, and toilets connected to water and sewage systems

Slide 4 “Modern Conveniences” Was not until the development of mass • 1800s — century of enormous progress production, spurred by the Civil War, • 1805, B. Latrobe, modern = “comfort” that new technologies became • 1860 huge strides; new technologies only available to the wealthy available to the middle class – 1860s, # industrial firms in US increased by 80%, the largest one-decade increase in Getting water from a pump in the yard American history beats a well and a bucket. But locating • Technological changes not uniform in time or degree, but even incremental changes were the pump inside the house, along with significant a sink, is an even greater improvement. • Technologies interdependent Widespread acceptance of new technologies dependent on the creation and evolution of other technologies. A flush toilet of little use if there was a water supply, but no adequate sewerage system through which to remove the waste.

Slide 5 “Modern Conveniences”, cont. Gibson, Louis H. Convenient Houses, • 1889 definition of “modern conveniences”: with Fifty Plans for the “those arrangements and appliances which make it possible for people to live Housekeeper. New York: Thomas Y. comfortably in a larger house, without Crowell, 1889. seriously increasing the cares which they had in a smaller one.” • Home built in 1900 recognizably modern • 1920s post-WWI building boom – Jan. 1926 House & Garden, “comfort had been brought up to perfection”

Slide 6 Ierley, p. 11

Slide 7 3 and 8. Middletown is Muncie, IN. 4. Major include NY, , “Middletown” = Muncie, IN Chicago, and . Seventh

“Major cities” = New York, Special Report of the Commissioner of Philadelphia, Chicago, & Labor, WA, DC, 1894. Water closets Baltimore were replacing privies in areas of concentrated population, but most, if not all, of these water closets were shared. 9. US Dept. of Commerce, Real Property Inventory 1934. Merritt Ierley, The Comforts of Home: The American House and the Evolution of Modern Convenience (New York: Three Rivers Press, 1999), p. 10.

Slide 8 Lighting Whale oil , , solar or • Until about 130 years ago, all lighting was open astral lamp — could burn oil or lard, : , rush, , oil, lard, gas converted so would burn Tallow — solidified fat of cattle or sheep Spermaceti (1830s) — liquid wax from the head of the sperm whale converted to a solid Stearine (1850s) — chemically purified animal or vegetable fat Paraffin (1860s) — byproduct of the industry

Slide 9 Petroleum-based for lighting Simplest form of paraffin is , CH4, which is a gas at room • Kerosene invented 1846 by Canadian Abraham Gesner (distilled oily at low temperature, but temperature. Heavier members of the later used petroleum) • Paraffin oil (= kerosene), 1848, family are liquid at room temperature; James Young, Scotland, distilled paraffin oil from coal e.g., octane (C8H18), oil, and • First U.S. oil well drilled in 1859 paraffin wax (C20H42 to C40H82), near Titusville, PA by E. L. Drake. Produced abundant supply of isolated in 1830 by Carl Reichenbach, kerosene ,1957 and is a solid at room temperature. Paraffin wax is a white, odorless, tasteless, waxy solid, with a typical melting point between 115-154 degrees F. Paraffin wax is used in crayons, and in modified drywall, where the paraffin wax melts during the day absorbing heat, and solidifying at night, releasing heat. http://www.douglashistory.org.au/filea dmin/_migrated/pics/Woman_reading_ magazine_by_light_of_kerosene_lamp_ Port_Douglas_1957_01.jpg Slide 10 Manufactured Gas The coal was gasified by heating the • manufactured in the 1600s coal in enclosed ovens with an - • Coal gasified by heating it in enclosed oven with little oxygen poor atmosphere. Gases, including • Gas produced is a mixture of , methane, and hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, • Coal gas also contains significant quantities of and , were generated, all of sulfur, • Coal gas has to be purified before used which can be burnt for heating and • Constant supply, smelly, very hot lighting purposes. Coal gas, however, • Aka “town gas”, “illumination gas” also contains significant quantities of sulfur and ammonia compounds, as well as heavy , and so the gas needed to be purified before it could be used.

Town gas, a synthetically produced mixture of methane and other gases, mainly the highly toxic carbon monoxide, is used in a similar way to and can be produced by treating coal chemically. This is a historical technology, not usually economically competitive with other sources of today. But there are still some specific cases where it is the best option and it may be so into the future. Most town "gashouses" located in the eastern US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were simple by- product ovens which heated in air-tight chambers. The gas driven off from the coal was collected and distributed through networks of pipes to residences and other buildings where it was used for cooking and lighting. (Gas heating did not come into widespread use until the last half of the 20th century.) The coal tar (or asphalt) that collected in the bottoms of the gashouse ovens was often used for roofing and other water- proofing purposes, and when mixed with sand and gravel was used for paving streets.

Slide 11 Worker shoveling coal at a

Slide 12 Concord Gas Co, In service from 1888-1952, is the last Concord, NH, 1888-1952 structure of its kind in the U.S. still containing its original gasholder. Similar structures were a common feature in the urban areas of New England and upper New York. This one was built to increase the company's storage capacity and was retired when a natural gas pipeline reached Concord. General view of site looking NW, Concord Gas Light Company, Gasholder House, South Main Street, Concord, Merrimack County, NH http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/n h/nh0100/nh0131/photos/105471pv.jp g

Slide 13 Manufactured

• demonstrations of illuminating gas • 1807 gas street lighting system in • 1816—first gas system for street lighting in the U.S. in Baltimore; New York’s gas street installed in 1823 • By start of Civil War, 381 cities had some kind of gas light system, running on “town gas” • Street lights: made safer; shops stayed open longer; downtown became an evening entertainment center

Slide 14 Photos by L. M. Drummond

Slide 15 Atlanta Gas Light Company William Helme, Philadelphia, built first

• April 6, 1855—First gasworks gasworks in Atlanta in 1855. (coal-burning gas plant) begun • Dec. 25, 1855—1st gas streetlight • 1856 –AGL Co. incorporated—Atlanta’s oldest corp. • 1864—Gasworks burned by Union Army • 1880—All city’s gas streetlights back on • 1883—Atlanta had 426 gas streetlights • 1889—Gas water heating introduced • 1890s—Gas cook stoves introduced • 1902—Anthracite coal strike made gas cooking popular; became more profitable than gas lighting had ever been

Slide 16

Atlanta Gas Light Company 1871 Bird’s Eye Map

Slide 17 Standard Gas Philadelphia gasworks; Ierley, p. 138;. Machine, ca. 1892 Home production of “illuminating gas” was Standard Gas Machine, ca. 1892, Ierley, only for the wealthy p. 140.

Philadelphia Gasworks; engraving from Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, 1853

Slide 18 Gas Production Interstate Power Company • Gas-producing (“”) plants were manufactured gas plant in 1930s, located in remote, industrial sectors of towns because of the smell Clinton IA, serving eastern Iowa and • Gas had to be scrubbed (filtered) to get rid southern Minnesota. of odors and noxious byproducts (ammonia, tar, sulfur gas) http://www.engg.ksu.edu/CHSR/outrea • Usually the gas works was located at a low ch/tosc/sites/clintonimages.html elevation relative to the rest of the city because gas is naturally lighter than air and The Center for Hazardous Substance would rise through the mains Research, Kansas State University Cleanup and revitalization of these brownfield sites

Slide 19 Gas lighting was superior to anything that The Manufactured Gas Industry in preceded it, and it was a way to demonstrate that a city was up-to-date Kansas, by the Kansas Dept. of Health and Education, 2008

Slide 20 Naturally Occurring Gas Natural gas is a naturally occurring

• ca. 1000 B.C.—Oracle of Delphi, Mt. Parnassus, gas mixture consisting Greece; natural gas escaping from cracks in ground, ignited by lightning primarily of methane, with other • Chinese 1st to use naturally occurring gas—bamboo pipelines hydrocarbons, , nitrogen, • 1626—Native Americans lit natural gases, Lake Erie • 1821—first natural gas well dug in Fredonia, NY and hydrogen sulfide. Before natural • 1858—Fredonia Gas Light Co. formed, 1st in US • 1859—first US oil well also produced natural gas, gas can be used as a fuel, it must piped 5.5 miles to Titusville, PA • 1885—Robert Bunsen invented burner that mixed natural gas with air, creating a flame safe for undergo processing to clean the gas cooking and heating and remove impurities including water to meet the specifications of marketable natural gas.

Slide 21 Images from http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2 012/03/30/opinion/30cavett- grouchomarx/30cavett-grouchomarx- blog427-v2.jpg.

The term Freedonia was popularized by the 1933 Marx In the 1960s, Woody Allen, working Brothers movie Duck Soup, as a fictional country. When the film was first released, the village of Fredonia, New York complained on Candid Camera, used Freedonia as a about the possible negative impact the film might have on them. The Marx Brothers replied, in typical Marx fashion, “Change the practical joke by asking passersby what name of your town. It is hurting our picture.” they thought of the bid for independence for Freedonia. In the 1990s, the satirical magazine Spy pulled a practical joke on several members of the Congress. Impersonating a New York radio host (Henry Rose), the magazine successfully convinced several newcomers to Congress to comment on the "ethnic cleansing" in Freedonia, without their realizing that Freedonia was a fictional country. Nick Smith urged caution; James Talent supported action; Jay Inslee warned that inaction would be unacceptable.

Slide 22 Naturally Occurring Gas, cont.

• 1890s—pipelines to Chicago and other cities from natural gas wells in Texas and Oklahoma • 1930—natural gas comes to Atlanta • Post-1945—Naturally occurring gas became widely used with advent of improved welding techniques, pipe rolling, and metallurgical advances  ability to construct long pipelines • 1950s-1960s—thousands of miles of pipelines laid throughout US • Today, US natural gas pipeline network, laid end-to- end, would stretch to the moon and back twice

Slide 23 Gas Delivery Old on building in Xenia, OH; • Gas distributed via cast mains, 2” – 2’ in diameter in 9’ sections laid beneath city streets http://www.flickr.com/photos/2347587 • Gas passed through meter (invented in 1816) to 8@N07/2431750431/ enter the house; meters were notoriously unreliable: “You lie like a gas meter” Man reading gas meter in basement, no place, no date; http://www.corbisimages.com/stock- photo/rights-managed/BE073206/man- reading-gas-meter-in-basement The Atlanta Gas Light Pipeline Replacement Program is a 15-year project to replace more than 2,700 miles of bare steel and cast iron natural gas pipeline in Georgia, replacing them with state-of-the-art plastic and steel pipes. The program will be complete in 2013. In late summer 2011, we began environmental studies and surveying for the new Eastside Pipeline project. This pipeline will be a new 24-inch coated steel , approximately 28 miles long, that connects our Riverdale facility in Clayton County to a connection point in our transmission system near the intersection of Buford Highway and Clairmont Road in DeKalb County. Atlanta Gas Light recently received approval from the Georgia Public Service Commission for a plan to support the development of a network of privately owned (CNG) fueling stations in Georgia and issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for interested parties to participate.

Slide 24 Bradley, OK, maybe?

The presence of the gas meter dates the photo to no earlier than 1941

Slide 25 The Public Utilities Commission has proposed changes to In Lancaster, PA, gas meters on Marion Street were installed the way it regulates the installation of outside, sparking protests among natural gas meters and other homeowners and historic equipment—changes that could have a preservationists (9/3/2012) dramatic impact on the visual character of Philadelphia and other historic communities across the state. Under the proposed new regulations, all gas meters and pressure regulators would be installed on the outside of customer’s properties, and interior meters (which are very common in older and historic rowhouse neighborhoods) would be relocated to the exterior within the next ten years. Placement of the new equipment would be at the sole discretion of the utility company, with little warning or consultation with property owners. The proposed new regulations include certain exemptions for historic properties, but the language used is vague and potentially ineffective. Unless these proposed regulations are revised, thousands of historic structures could be adversely impacted. Images: http://articles.philly.com/2012-09- 03/business/33549654_1_outdoor- meters-indoor-meters-steel-service- lines

Slide 26 Gas Meters on contributing Gas meters in a historic district in building in a Savannah historic Savannah; 2012 image: district http://www.flickr.com/photos/2271150 5@N05/7720572130

Slide 27 Gas Within a Building • Pipes within houses were mostly wrought iron, later cast iron • Smaller diameter pipes near burners were brass, tin, pewter • Changed the treatment of interior spaces – Before, furniture was re-arranged to catch the best light – But gas lighting was fixed, so table was placed under the light, and chairs set in place around the table

Slide 28 1847 & 1860 Open flame gasolier from gasoliers http://education.gtj.org.uk/en/blowup 1/19908 1847 gasolier (bottom left) in room adjacent to the Members’ Reading Room, the Athenaeum, Philadelphia. http://www.rushlight.org/reports/repo rt_041808.html Other gasoliers and wall lamps in the reading room were electrified in 1923, and the glass has been replaced (right) http://www.philaathenaeum.org/ppex hibits/exhibit3/e30002b-1.htm

Slide 29 1883 wall gas fixture, Ivy Hall, Atlanta, GA

Gas Fixtures

• Maximize light and use gas efficiently • Very dim: 17-20 candlepower = 25-watt • Earliest and strictly functional fixture—the inverted “T” with naked burners at each end, controlled by stop-cocks

Slide 30 Gas lighting, late 1800s http://officemuseum.com/Office_Man _with_Postal_Scale.jpg. Office with man, numerous small filing cabinets and boxes, a postal scale, and gas lighting. Boxes in the upper left corner are labeled "Foreign Invoices: J.E.R" and "Domestic Invoices, Sundries: J.E.R." J.E.R. may stand for Jersey Eastern Railway, which operated from 1873 to 1929 on Jersey, an island in the English Channel. Slide 31 Invention of http://officemuseum.com/Photo%20G vulcanized allery%201860s- rubber for tubing by Charles 1880s/1880a_OM_Two_Men_in_Office Goodyear in 1843 led to _with_Gas_Lighting_half_T_Y.jpg development of gas desk lamps Two men in an office, stereoview by George Wainwright Hennigar (1832- Gas ceiling and desk 1910), Middleton, CT. Photo includes a lighting. Middleton, CT, 1880s map of New England, gas ceiling and desk lights, a lion head seal press, and a barometric ink stand that was patented in 1861-64. George Hennigar operated the Hennigar Studio from 1861 until his retirement in 1890, when he turned the business over to his sons, Morton and Howard, who renamed the studio Hennigar Bros. The gas used for illumination was produced from coal or oil. Slide 32 • 1885 Welsbach Mantle—thumb-shaped mesh bag patented impregnated with , which – (1858-1929) incandesces (produces light when – Circular with a fiber mantle heated) at high temperatures. The – Light could be directed down into a room burning gas would heat the bag, which – 1890 upgrade (using thorium) would glow brightly. Gas mantles, • Whiter, brighter light • 15 times as much light now often made with non-radioactive as a naked yttrium, are still used in - powered camping .

Slide 33 Problems with Gas Lighting

• Pipes made noise • Burning gas left on walls, ceilings • Gas had distinctive, unpleasant odor • Burners had to be properly adjusted to provide the correct mixture of gas and air, or the gas would not burn cleanly and compounds like carbon monoxide could poison the residents

Slide 34 Problems with Gas Lighting, cont.

• If a gas pipe leaked, or a valve was left open, enough gas could build up in a room to cause an explosion • Contaminants in gas, such as hydrogen sulfide, cyanide, and napthalene, could make residents seriously ill after inhaling them

Slide 35 Gas lighting being converted to electric in 1890s J-style lamp, electric and gas, ca. 1908

Inman Park United Methodist Church, 1898. Gas light above; below; both now electric. Slide 36 Compare Gas & Electric Ca. 1880 gas inverted T arm fixture Fixtures Ca. 1905 electric 2-light pendant http://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/ categories/restored- antiques/lighting?&e%5Bpaging%5D%5 Bper_page%5D=219 Gas inverted “T” arm Electric 2-, ca. 1880 (has pendant fixture, been converted to ca. 1905 electric)

Slide 37 http://officemuseum.com/IMagesWW Office in the W/Navy_Dept_Strohmeyer__Wyman_ Department of the Navy, NY_NY_4.jpg Washington, DC, ca. 1890; Combination gas and electric lighting

Slide 38 Avary-Fulton House, Decatur, GA Gas space Photo by L. M. Drummond heater, Avary-Fulton House, Decatur, GA

Slide 39 Avary-Fulton House, Decatur, GA

Gas space Photo by L. M. Drummond heater connection close-up, Avary-Fulton House, Decatur, GA

Slide 40 Avary-Fulton House, Avary-Fulton House, Decatur, GA Decatur, GA Photo by L. M. Drummond

Slide 41 End of Manufactured Gas— Natural Gas &

• By 1870s, electric street in many cities • 1879: perfected incandescent bulb, competition with gas lighting • Electricity — no odors or soot • Electricity from gas-powered generator good for farms, far from city gas mains

Slide 42 Gas & Electric Street Lights David E. Nye, Electrifying America, pg. 1920, Saratoga Springs, NY 55.

Slide 43 End of Manufactured Gas; Switch to Natural Gas & Electricity • 1960 — U.S. had nation-wide system of natural gas pipelines • Europe continued to use manufactured gas until 1980s when natural gas discovered in the North Sea • Some gasworks converted to production of electricity • Some gasholder buildings converted to office, living, retail spaces

Slide 44 Environmental Legacy of Manufactured Gas

• Although relatively clean-burning at the consumer end, gas was anything but clean to make. By-products included: – Coal, ash, clinkers, coal and oil tars, lampblack, ammonia, cyanide compounds, and emulsions of oil and tar in water

Slide 45 Environmental Problems with Coal tar, lampblack, sulfur, and Manufactured Gas ammonia could be used as feedstock • Some by-products could for the . Coal tar be sold or re-purposed • Others were stored or disposed of on site could also be used as fuel in the  contamination of water and soil with furnaces. Coal ash and cinders were ammonia, tar, coal tar, lime, iron shavings, contaminated chips and often used as inexpensive construction ground corn cobs from purification process fill or to treat icy roads in the winter.

Slide 46 Manufactured Gas Making a Comeback • “” being considered as America seeks energy independence • Gasification of coal, oil, or biomass to make hydrogen, which burns without releasing pollutants or greenhouse gases • Companies now developing technologies to make syngas economical and “clean” • If biomass, rather than natural gas or coal, is used, gasification can be made carbon neutral

Slide 47 Natural Gas in the U.S. today http://www.marketwatch.com/story/na • = natural gas trapped within tural-gas-prices-slip-after-us-supply- shale formations data-2013-10- • Production of shale gas has rejuvenated the natural gas industry in the U.S. 22?link=MW_latest_news (from Wall • Supplies of natural gas 77 Street Journal) billion cubic feet for the week ending 10/11/2013 • Total stocks now stand at Shales are fine-grained sedimentary 3.654 trillion cubic feet rocks that can be rich sources of petroleum and natural gas. http://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/ US Energy Information Agency

Slide 48

Electrical Lighting

Slide 49 Home Technology Evolution Number of rooms increased while • House evolved during 1800s family size shrank. Three distinct kinds – Small structure with a few rooms – Larger, multi-storied building with rooms of spaces in the late Victorian house: segmented by function (1) space for presenting the ideal home • Home was industrialized before electricity – By 1880s, normal to receive water, gas, and to guests and family; (2) spaces for the (for some) steam heat from outside the home – Electricity was just another addition production of domestic goods; and (3) • In 1910, only 1 in 10 American homes had spaces for privacy. Each family member electricity • By 1930, most urban homes were wired should have their own bedroom (except small children).

Slide 50 Carbon Arc Lamps—1st electrical lighting • Carbon demonstrated ca. 1807 by Sir Humphrey Davy – Two charcoal sticks approx. 4” apart with a 2000 cell battery to create electrical arch – Produced harsh, brilliant light 200 times more powerful than contemporary filament lights – Not practical for small interior spaces

Slide 51 Carbon Arc Lamps

• Not practical until a reliable source of electricity existed — best was Charles F. Brush’s electrical dynamo (1876) • 1879 — Brush lit 20 arc lamps in Monumental Park in Cleveland, OH. City quickly added arc street lighting—first electrical street lighting in the U.S. • 1880 Brush Electric Company provided street lighting on Broadway in New York City

Slide 52 Ca. 1895 image of man changing a carbon arc lamp, unknown location, General Electric Corporation.

Slide 53 Electric Incandescent Lighting https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi • 1875—Woodward and Evans patent light bulb; Thomas Edison purchases patent a/commons/7/76/Edison_bulb.jpg • December 1879—Edison’s first public demonstration of – Carbonized bamboo filament sealed in pear- shaped bulb of clear, evacuated glass with a tip where it had been sealed – Gave off orangey light about same brightness as incandescent tree lights • July 21, 1881—Atlanta City Council contracts for electric streetlights • Sept. 4, 1882—Edison’s Pearl Street Station (lower Manhattan) goes online; provides light to customers within area of one square mile • 1883—Georgia Electric Light Company st installs 1 electric streetlights in Atlanta Slide 54 Electric Incandescent Lighting, cont.

• (1856-1943), disgruntled Edison employee, developed motor in 1883 – Invented high tension power transmission lines – Designed first great hydroelectric power plant at Niagara Falls, NY • 1886—George Westinghouse installed first alternating current system in Great Barrington, MA • 1889—first electric street cars in the U.S.: Joel Hurt’s line from Edgewood Avenue to Inman Park in Atlanta • 1892—Edison Electric merges with other companies to become General Electric • 1897—National Electrical Code (NEC) established

Slide 55 • Edison’s distribution system required power to be generated close to where it was consumed. Voltage throughout the system was the same, therefore safer, but separate lines are needed to serve appliances of different voltages (e.g., motors and electric lights) • Alternating current allowed transmission to go through a to allow low voltage usage (e.g., home lighting) as well as high voltage usage (e.g., industrial motors). Fewer and larger generating plants could serve an area. However, higher voltages were unsafe • 1887—State of New York asked Edison about best way to execute condemned criminals; he advised using AC, and gave public demonstrations executing animals • 1888—George Westinghouse hired Tesla as consultant • War of the Currents won by Westinghouse when he got the contract to provide AC electric lighting to 1893 Columbia Exposition in Chicago

Slide 56 Grimmestad Land and Loan Office, Belview, MN, http://officemuseum.com/Photo%20G ca. 1895 allery%201890s/1899b_Minnesota_18 95_pf026901_Y.jpg "Grimmestad Land and Loan Office," Belview, Minn., c. 1895. Photograph includes desk phone, seal presses, wall clock, wall safe containing ledgers, kerosene lamp, and stuffed deer head.

Slide 57 Electrical Systems • Electric generators would not work 24/7, so gas and electric lighting combined; in use through World War I • Bare, clear-glass light bulbs at first; frosted bulbs and shades in use by 1920s • Historic electric fixtures, like gas, were lower than today’s ceiling fixtures – Gas had to be lit and extinguished – Electric had to be turned on (fewer wall switches)

Slide 58 http://officemuseum.com/Photo%20G Norfolk and Western Railway Office, 1890s allery%201890s/1899d_Virginia_Tech_ nw3845_Y.jpg. Norfolk and Western Railway office. Picture includes Remington typewriter, rubber stamp rack, and electric lighting.

Slide 59 Electric lighting in the National Weather Service http://officemuseum.com/Photo%20G Office, Buffalo, New York, 1899 allery%201890s/NOAA_1899_wea0130 4_.jpg "The Local Forecast Office," National Weather Service, Buffalo, NY, 1899. The U. S. national weather service was set up in 1870. Picture includes typewriter and electric lighting.

Slide 60 http://officemuseum.com/IMagesWW Second floor hallway, First W/1910_Phila_Bank_by_Wm_H_Rau_1 National Bank of 9.jpg Philadelphia, 1910 Note floor heating grate, cast iron radiator, electric lighting, electric fan

Slide 61 Incandescent CP=candlepower Lamps Variety of bulb shapes, glass types, & bulb bases 1888 Edison Westinghouse bulb, 16 cp 1889, 16 cp 1900 Edison outside frosted, 10 cp

General Electric, 1906, wattage unknown Philips, 1920, 25 watts

Slide 62 Most Common Pre-1900 Sockets Note key switches

Edison Westinghouse Thompson Edison -Houston T-H Adapter

Slide 63 Maxfield 1911 ad; Early GE Parrish cover ads; 1911 for 1931 GE http://www.amazon.com/General- and 1924 Mazda Lamps calendar Electric-Mazda-Lamps- Light/dp/B005DGUBR8 1924 Saturday Evening Post ad in color; http://www.ebay.com/itm/1924-GE- “Mazda ”— chief deity of Zoroastrianism; Edison-Mazda-lamp-bulb-color-AD- source of light and embodiment of good /200454896002 1931 Maxfield Parrish calendar cover art; http://www.sappho.com/art/maxpar01 .html

Slide 64 Wiring Systems in the 1800s • Easy to retrofit electricity into existing building, esp. wood frame • Exposed system on the wall/ceiling surface using wood cleats – Wires were easily abraded, broken • Snake wires through existing iron or steel gas piping, or install metal piping – Rigid conduit was excellent barrier, but difficult and expensive to install – Had to be grounded and coated on interior to inhibit rust – Pipes often contained moisture and rust  degraded the insulation • Wiring in plaster – Good concealment – Difficult to locate faults – Messy to repair – Lime from plaster corroded insulation creating shorts

Slide 65 1920s advertisement for wiring an “already built” house

Slide 66 1914 advertisement Leila Ross Wilburn plan book, Southern Homes and Bungalows, p. 57

Slide 67 Wiring Systems • Knob-and-tube wiring system, 1890s- 1930s – Two-wire concealed system – Non-conducting porcelain knobs hold wires 1” off surface – Porcelain tubes used when wires penetrated joists, studs, or crossed other wires

Slide 68

Knob Tube Cleat Slide 69 General Office of the Consumers Biscuit Company, , 1917. Note electric lights, ceiling fan, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi surface ceiling wiring system. a/commons/9/98/Office_of_Consumer s_Biscuit_Co_New_Orleans_1917.jpg

Slide 70 Wiring Systems • Surface wiring system, 1900-1930s – Cheaper and easier to install than knob-and-tube – Wood molding carried 2-3 wires in grooved strip attached to the wall; covered with decorative cap that looked like picture molding – Not for use in concealed or damp locations – Wood moldings not allowed in most places by 1930s

Slide 71 Wiring Systems Power from inside-the-wall line from • Modern Surface receptacle via interior wiring to Raceways – Metal and non-metallic outside-the-wall extension box, up the channels, boxes, connectors surface channel to the surface mounted light switch. Wall studs prevent an electrical box from being mounted inside the wall. Instead, surface-mount channel attaches to a special box mounted directly on the wall, and wiring in the channel connects the switch to power. http://photos.mlive.com/muskegonchr onicle/2011/08/channelwebzip_2.html Metallic channel http://www.hubbellcatalog.com/hubbe llpremise/datasheet.asp?PN=HBL2000B CAIV&FAM=Mraceway Wire-hider non-metallic raceways; http://www.newtechindustries.com/pr oducts/1%22-Non%252dMetallic-Wire- Hider-Raceway-Base.html

Slide 72 Wire & Insulation Types • Earliest insulation was fibrous wrap (paper, cloth, yarn); later treated with oil, varnish, gum to make impervious to water • In 1892 Thomas Edison patented “electric conductor” to insulate wire so it would be waterproof and fireproof – a) the conducting wire – b) a cotton braid separator over the wire – c) an outer covering of rubber compound

Slide 73 Wire & Insulation Types Beginning in Edison’s time, the original • Rubber insulation in use by 1900 residential wiring systems used conductor insulation made of gum- • Armored cable – Flexible steel conduit developed 1903 by Harry Greenfield of rubber. This “rubber” insulation Sprague Electric Company of New York – Galvanized steel strips wrapped in a tube was actually a mixture of ingredients – Carried 2-3 cloth-insulated wires including vulcanizing agents containing – BX not in wide use until 1930s sulfur for curing. These various additives, especially sulfur, had a very corrosive effect on the conductor, so the copper had to be tinned. Rubber was also very soft when first vulcanized, so a cotton braid or wrap was added as an outer covering for mechanical protection. When rubber insulated conductors were suitable for outdoor use they had to incorporate three of these braids or wraps that were saturated with a weatherproofing compound.

Greenfield had two experimental versions, called AX and BX, with X standing for “experimental”. The BX was the one that eventually was produced, and the name stuck.

Slide 74 Beginning in Edison’s time, the original Wire & Insulation Types residential wiring systems used • Synthetic rubber insulation introduced in 1930s conductor insulation made of gum- • Non-metallic sheathed cable, invented ca. 1926 by General Cable in Rome, NY, trade rubber. This “rubber” insulation name Romex® was actually a mixture of ingredients including vulcanizing agents containing Early cloth braid non- metallic cable sulfur for curing. These various Modern jacketed non- metallic cable additives, especially sulfur, had a very corrosive effect on the copper conductor, so the copper had to be tinned. Rubber was also very soft when first vulcanized, so a cotton braid or wrap was added as an outer covering for mechanical protection. When rubber insulated conductors were suitable for outdoor use they had to incorporate three of these braids or wraps that were saturated with a weatherproofing compound.

Slide 75 During the 1950s, the wire industry • Armored cable (BXL) containing lead, for use in began transitioning residential wire damp locations • 1950s—National Electric Code required domestic insulation from rubber to the newly wiring to be grounded with dedicated third wire • 1960s—Aluminum wiring, fire hazard developed thermoplastics (PVC). PVC • 1950s—transition of residential wire insulation from rubber to thermoplastics (PVC) had advantages in that it did not suffer • Non-metallic cable with thermoplastic insulation from the brittleness and cracking with standard since 1960s age that was typical of the older rubber insulation. It also did not have sulfur additives that could damage the conductor, so the copper did not have to be tin-coated.

Slide 76 Sign; reportedly, they still display these at the historic National Hotel in Jamestown, CA; Knife (blade) Wall key switch switch, ca. http://www.roadsideresort.com/tags/w 1890 eird-science

Brass and Bakelite wall receptacle, c. 1920 Ceiling rosette & bulb, ca. 1910

Slide 77

Plugs

Edison attachment Hard rubber 2-prong plugs, 1880s-1915 Spartan plugs, 1915- 1930

Wooden plug, Ca. 1930 Bakelite plug 1915 Slide 78 1905 GE Electric Appliance Demo Nye, 251.

Slide 79 Fuses Ceramic GE fuses with removeable • First used in 1847 to protect telegraph brass caps. One on left is 1882-1892; stations from lightning strikes • Contain piece of metal through which one on right is 1911-1919; electricity must pass http://www.lite-a- • During unsafe overload, metal will melt, stopping flow of electricity ray.com/products.html • When fuse is tripped, must be thrown away and replaced

Slide 80 Fusebox, probably late 1950s-1960s; Fuses & Fuse Boxes http://inspectapedia.com/electric/Old_ House_Wiring.htm Josiah Wallis House fusebox, ca. 1947 1941 tamper-resistant fuses. The Edison fuse base design also made it easy to use a penny to bridge a plug fuse, and that could be very dangerous.

Slide 81 Fuses & Circuit Breakers

• Distribution boards, fusebox, breaker panel, service panel—where fuses or circuit breakers are installed in the building • Both fuses and circuit breakers will automatically block against an incoming surge of electrical power past a certain safety limit, but use different technology

Slide 82 Circuit Breakers History info from:

• Invented in 1836, but modern circuit http://www.electriccontrol.com/blog/t breaker patented in 1924 he-history-of-ge-al-circuit-breakers-ge- • Switches that are tripped when electric flow passes a certain limit ak-circuit-breakers-and-ge-akr-circuit- • Do not have to be replaced; can be reset breakers/ • First “resettable fuse” sold in US by GE in 1945 after end of WWII • By 1955, had become smaller, faster • 1985 new design, communicable circuit board

Ca. 1945 Slide 83 Ca. 1945 Oldest, 1898 circuit breaker Single toggle, 15-amp circuit breaker, obsolete; http://www.breakeroutlet.com/xo115. 1898 1980s htm Pre- 1950 Ca. 1945 Circuit breaker, inside the Circuit tower of the Clocktower Building, the Breakers original Met Life headquarters at 5 Madison Ave., built in 1909; http://www.scoutingny.com/?p=1808 Pre-1950 circuit breaker, four connected toggles; http://www.breakeroutlet.com/mb.ht m 1980s circuit breaker box; http://www.philadelphia-electricians- how-to.com/2011/07/when-to- upgrade-your-electrical-service.html

Slide 84 Grounding http://www.familyhandyman.com/DIY-

• 1913 grounding required Projects/Electrical/Electrical- • Most common method use Safety/top-10-electrical-mistakes/View- building’s metal pipes • 1925-1971 — code allowed for, then All required external grounds, metal rods, at least 8 feet long

Slide 85 • Homes built before 1960 had 125-volt 2-prong (non- National Electric Code grounding) receptacles • 1947—3-prong grounding receptacles required for laundry appliances (washers and dryers) • 1956—expanded to basements, garages, outdoors • 1962—expanded to all circuits • 2000—NEC required 4-prong outlet for all 220-volt residential circuits

Slide 86 Photo by L. M. Drummond

Electrical wall outlets at 491 Auburn Avenue, built in 1911

Slide 87 Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) The National Electric Code (NEC)

NEC GFCI requirements (and effective date): typically only applies to new • Underwater pool lighting (since 1968) construction/major renovations. The • Receptacles: • Outdoors (since 1973) coverage of GFCI protection has • Bathrooms (since 1975) • Garages (since 1978) • Kitchens (since 1987) gradually increased over the years. • Crawl spaces and unfinished basements (since 1990) US Consumer Public Safety • Wet bar sinks (since 1993) • Laundry and utility sinks (since 2005) Commission; http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/09 9.pdf

Slide 88 Electrical Advertising Top left: Broadway at night from Times Times Square 1900 Square, 1900, Detroit Pub. Co.; http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/det/ 4a20000/4a25000/4a25600/4a25603v.j pg Bottom right, Times Square at night, 1900, Detroit Publishing Company; http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/det/ 4a20000/4a25000/4a25600/4a25604v.j pg

Slide 89 Times Square ablaze with lights in the Times Square, 1920s 1920s. In the Broadway theatre district in 1927 there were electric marquees on seventy-six theatres. http://blog.thunderbaybooks.com/201 1/09/picture-of-the-day-times-square- 1920s/

Slide 90 Photo by L. M. Drummond Times Square, 2012

Slide 91 Accounting office, , NY, 1925. Note electric lighting and electric adding machines. http://officemuseum.com/IMagesWW Wiring is concealed. W/1925_Accounting_Office_Brooklyn.J PG

Slide 92 Nye, p. 269.

Home of a Hundred Comforts advertising booklet by General Electric, 1925

Slide 93 Distribution of Rural Nye, p. 299. Electrification in 1935 City people, who had larger incomes, never had large startup costs, and instead were able to invest in ever- larger numbers of appliances. By 1930, electrification had decidedly increased the gap between the farm and the city. While a majority of city dwellers had electric lights, an iron, a cleaner, and the prospect of adding many more appliances, the farm family had none of these and could not reasonably expect o have them any time soon.

In the 1930s, rural electrification became a social program. FDR said electricity was no longer a luxury, it was a definite necessity. TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) created in 1933. A comprehensive electrification program that affected the southern states drained by the Tennessee River. Environmental as well as social concerns: dependable navigation called for flood control; flood control called for dams and reservoirs. Reservoirs could not fill with silt otherwise their function vanished. Silt prevent only by control of erosion on agricultural lands, which mean cover crops, both forest and grass, and scientific methods of tillage and crop rotation. Cover crops require cheap fertilizers can best be made with electric furnaces and cheap power. So the cycle returns on itself.

REA (Rural Electrification Administration) created in 1935. A decentralized electrification program and eventually operated in 46 states. Its sold purpose was getting transmission lines to the farms. By end of 1937, had constructed 73,000 miles of electrical lines, reaching more than 300,000 farms.

Collectively, electrical appliances lengthened the day, eliminated much of the heaviest labor, improved family health, and spruced up the farm’s general appearance.

Slide 94 Rural Electrification Administration posters by Lester Beall – 1934; http://www.vis- atk.com/2010/08/09/excellence-in- achievements-2-tf2/ Hayti, MO, 1942, annual meeting of the US REA cooperative; http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsa/ 8d07000/8d07400/8d07495v.jpg REA promo photo of a modern wash machine on a US farm, 1940-1946; http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/ 3b20000/3b29000/3b29700/3b29798r.j pg It’s Coming—Electricity for you; http://thamanjimmy.blogspot.com/201 1/02/history-of-rural- electrification.html

Slide 95 Tenant farmer’s 1941 Tenant farmer’s house in Greene house in Green County, GA with REA electric meter County, GA with REA electric meter on on the house, 1941 the house http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsa/ 8c05000/8c05700/8c05719v.jpg Housework in the 1930s was truly a Doing laundry in Home, LA, pre-electrification, ca. 1930 chore, Homer, LA http://www.our.coop/content/rich- history-claiborne-electric

Dead Ox Flat, Extension of Slide 96 OR,1939 REA beyond Poster: in 1944, Congress approved the 1946, publicity poster Pace Act, which, among other things, extended the mission of the federal

Alexandria, REA across MN,1937 Rural Electrification Administration the nation indefinitely beyond its targeted 1946 Caswell County, NC,1940 expiration date. https://remagazine.cooperative.com/A bout/PastIssues/November2011/Pages /PostWarBoom.aspx Ca. 1937, raising pole, coming of electricity to Alexandria, MN; http://www.runestoneelectric.com/abo ut_history.cfm Electric line going to a farmer’s house in Caswell County, NC, 1940; http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsa/ 8c13000/8c13700/8c13724v.jpg Entrance to dug-out home, Dead Ox Flat, Malheur County, OR, 1939; http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsa/ 8b35000/8b35000/8b35036r.jpg

Slide 97 Bookkeeping office, 1933. Photograph 1933 bookkeeping office shows 17-column Burroughs electric adding and listing machines, possibly Duplex Adding and Listing or Duplex Subtractor Bookkeeping Machines; http://www.officemuseum.com/IMage sWWW/cb000186_1933_Office_with_B urroughs_Machines_OM.JPG

Slide 98 Fluorescent Lighting • Gas-discharge lamp filled with vapor • More efficient use of electricity than incandescent lamps • Lamp fixture expensive due to ballast needed for current regulation • Lower energy cost offset greater initial expense of fluorescent over incandescent lighting • Last 10-20 times longer than incandescent, unless switched on and off frequently

Slide 99 History of Fluorescent Lighting Geissler tube image; • 1857—Heinrich Geissler invented http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclop electrical glow gas discharge tube edia/G/Geissler_tube.html • 1897—Thomas Edison invented a , but did not pursue it Cooper Hewitt tube image; • 1901—Cooper Hewitt patented mercury- http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/ vapor lamp, forerunner to fluorescent light 20thcent/prec20.htm Late- Geissler tubes have had a large impact 1800s Geissler tube Cooper Hewitt tube on the development of many instruments and devices all of which use related vacuum and discharge principles: Xenon flash lamps (for flash photography), Xenon arc lamps (for automobile headlights), X-ray tubes, vapor lamps of low and high pressure, "" signs (both using visible light discharge from neon and other gases and indirectly through phosphor excitation from light) Mercury vapor lamps, devices, tube (employed in the oscilloscope and later as a , , and computer display device), Electrotachyscope (an early moving picture display device), and Fluorescent lamps

Slide 100 Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers, Detour Englishmen, first isolated neon in 1898. • 1898—discovery of inert gas, neon, which glowed bright red in a Geissler tube George Claude, Frenchman developed • 1910—Neon in production in France, used for general illumination a technology and a successful business • 1926—fluorescent coating on neon lighting for air liquefaction, and was obtaining tubes patented in France • Advances in neon lighting overcame enough neon as a byproduct to support impediments to gas-based lighting; all the a neon lighting industry by 1910. components for successful fluorescent lighting in place by end of 1920s Claude developed a new electrode to use in neon lighting which eliminated sputtering—a problem with fluorescent lamps. Jacques Risler, Frenchman, patented fluorescent coating in 1926. All the major features of fluorescent lighting were in place at the end of the 1920s. Decades of invention and development had provided the key components of fluorescent lamps: economically manufactured glass tubing, inert gases for filling the tubes, electrical ballasts, long-lasting electrodes, mercury vapor as a source of , effective means of producing a reliable electrical discharge, and fluorescent coatings that could be energized by ultraviolet light. At this point, intensive development was more important than basic research.

Slide 101 All images by L. M. Drummond

Slide 102 Fluorescent Lighting History cont.

• 1934—General Electric engineer, George E. Inman, developed fluorescent lamp prototype • Patent disputes between GE and others went on for decades • 1938—GE first marketed “fluorescent lumiline lamps” • Fluorescent lighting led to experiments with "windowless factories”

Slide 103 GE fluorescent Mazda lamp sign; sign, lamp, and packaging http://uv201.com/Promo_pages/decals ca. 1945 .htm GE 1945 fluorescent lamp; http://www.lamptech.co.uk/Spec%20S heets/GE%20F14.htm

Slide 104 Fluorescent Lighting History cont. • 1939—Fluorescent tubes introduced simultaneously at the New York World's Fair and the (San Francisco) Golden Gate Exposition • 1951—more light produced in US by fluorescent than by incandescent lamps • 1970s—compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) designed, but most were considered too expensive to mass- produce

Slide 105 1950s gas Early to mid-1940s, range with fluorescent light http://www.lighting- gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?al bum=794&pos=24&pid=32516 Desk lamp, Fluorescent light on 1950s Western date ca. Mid-1940s 1950 Holly gas range; Fluorescent http://www.antiquegasstoves.com/pag Lighting es/yellowwh.html Desk lamp, date unknown; http://www.lighting- gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?al bum=1217&pos=94&pid=35205

Slide 106 Office with fluorescent lights, radiator, electric clock, No date, no place; electric adding machines, post-WWII. http://www.officemuseum.com/Office_ with_typewriters_and_adding_machin es.jpg

Slide 107 1950s-1960s 1950s office pool with rows of Fluorescent Office Lighting fluorescent lighting;

1960s records storage http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014 room (below left); 1960s office décor ad 2405274870447610457543972369557 (below right) 1950s office pool 9664.html 1960s office interior with majority fluorescent ceiling lighting (not visible), and some low-hanging lamps in break room and receptionist’s desk; http://mikkipedia.net/?p=1414

Slide 108 from Young, Historic Preservation Lighting System Dates Technology, p. 378 • 1620 – 1850 Candle holders • 1783 – 1839 Whale-oil, lard-oil, burning fuel lamps and fixtures • 1854 – 1934 Kerosene lamps/fixtures • 1817 – 1907 Gas lighting • 1879 – present Electric lighting

From R. W. Moss, Lighting for Historic Buildings (1988) Note from LD: I would modify these somewhat; e.g., gas lighting lasted longer in some places, so did candles.

Light Source Candlepower Slide 109 Whale- 0.9 Coal gas, No. 0.5 jet 1.0 Stearine candle 1.1 Tallow candle 1.25 Sperm-oil lamp 1.306 Paraffin candle 1.49 Coal gas, No. 1 jet 3.0 Kerosene lamps (various types) 6.0-12.0 Coal gas, No. 2 jet 7.8 Incandescent light bulb, 15-watt 8.8 Whale-oil Argand lamp 9.8 Coal gas, No. 3 jet and Sperm-oil Argand lamp 13.0 Incandescent light bulb, 25-watt 15.9 Coal gas, No. 4 jet 20.0 Coal gas, No. 5 jet 28.0 Incandescent light bulb, 40-watt 39.8 Incandescent light bulb, 60-watt 67.6 Incandescent light bulb, 75-watt 95.5 Incandescent light bulb, 100-watt 135.2 Incandescent light bulb, 200-watt 310.3 Incandescent light bulb, 300-watt 493.2

Slide 110 Chronology of Electric Home Appliances 1905 – electric iron 1947 – room air conditioner 1905 – Christmas tree lights 1951 – hand-held hair dryer 1907 – motor-driven phonograph 1956 – electric can opener 1909 – vacuum cleaner 1959 – lighted telephone 1911 – electric toaster 1967 – microwave oven 1921 – refrigerator 1972 – drip-type coffeemaker 1924 – blender 1973 – garage door opener 1925 – electric mixer 1975 – video game system 1927 – coffee percolator 1975 – videotape recorder 1927 – electric saw 1978 – personal computer 1930 – heat lamp 1982 – CD player 1935 – electric fan 1984 – phone answering machine 1937 – washing machine 1997 – DVD player 1938 – garbage disposer 1999 – plasma TV 1939 – 2002 – wireless router